Rustic + Soft Southern Highlands Wedding
In my humble opinion, flowers can make or break a wedding. They can elevate a perfectly beautiful soiree to cover-of-a-magazine perfection. Today's Southern Highlands wedding is one of those weddings. It's stunning, thanks in large to the floral design from Justine Rose, and you can feel the love and laughter in Studio Something's images. In short? Perfect.
From The Bride...On the morning of our wedding, we woke to a cloudless sky, a warm breeze and an ethereal, hazy-mauve sky from the severe bushfires nearby. We had hired a stunning 8-bedroom property called Belmore for our family, bridal party and two gorgeous dogs to stay for the entire weekend. This was one of the best things we did, as it made the wedding excitement last for much longer than just the one day, and the homestead was such a great, big, light-filled space for everyone to get ready in. It looked incredible in our photos too, with its sprawling acreage, lavender gardens in full bloom, eclectic furnishings and Moroccan-style doors and wall insets.
My dress was by Rebecca Childs, owner of local bridal boutique Beska. The ball gown was made from soft blush-pink silk dupion with intricate ruffled flowers on the skirt and an off-shoulder wrap. After the ceremony we removed the wrap to reveal a sweetheart neckline, lined with a tiny bit of feminine lace. I also wore my Mum’s jewellery and three-tiered veil, which was finished with a hairpiece, specially made to incorporate my Great-Grandmother’s brooch.
We travelled from Belmore to our ceremony in beautiful old Jags owned by Vic’s old school mate, Kevin. Our ceremony was held on the old sandstone lookout in the rambling gardens of Hillview Governor’s House, a heritage-listed property that was once the country retreat for the NSW governors.
Vic and I both wanted a formal, traditional wedding, but we wanted to do things in a new way that people might not have seen before. We wanted the ceremony be soft, whimsical and just really beautiful and relaxing for our guests. I had literally bombarded Justine – our florist and stylist – with hundreds of ideas and images from Pinterest, mags and blogs – and she took all of my crazy ideas and translated them perfectly into the most beautiful setting.
We were absolutely blown away by her work – the flower garlands and ribbons in the big tree, the incredible rustic arch erupting with flowers, the ‘his and hers’ loveseat, mismatched chairs and the old dresser for the drink stand. The dresser held our programs, which we had made ourselves, and Vic’s own delicious Vodka-citrus punch. We also had ciders, mini-bubbles and water on ice as it was such a hot day, as well as gorgeous hand-woven picnic blankets we’d bought in South America for guests to relax on – a nod to Vic’s Chilean heritage.
We fell in love with the restaurant at Centennial Vineyards as soon as we walked in – warm and rustic, with big fireplaces, worn timber floors, long wooden tables and a vaulted timber ceiling with thick beams and magnificent chandeliers.
We wanted a Latin 'fiesta' feel for the reception, something loud and full of colour, and a bit bolder than what we had for the ceremony. Justine’s styling and flowers just looked amazing in that setting. The tables were lined with burlap runners and neon confetti, mismatched jars, pops of timber, incredible flowers and the most gorgeous mini pineapples. Most amazing of all though was THAT SIGN! It was the brainchild of myself and Justine – she sat down with me and said, ‘It would be cool to hang something from that beam, like a flower chandelier,’ and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve seen the perfect thing on Pinterest – it’s like a swing, but with flowers and a sign, which could say Kaitlyn & Victor’. Justine took care of the swing and the flowers, and while we had originally wanted to jigsaw out the sign ourselves, we ended up ordering a laser cut version from WoodenYouLoveItAus on Etsy, which we painted ourselves – at 11pm the night before the wedding!
All of the styling went so perfectly with our handmade menus, place cards and favours. Our favours were test tubes filled with ‘Buddha Tears’, balls of Jasmine tea that slowly unfurl in hot water. Vic and I are both tea-drinking nerds at heart, so we felt that our favours were the perfect gift.
Fitting in with the winery location, I really wanted a wine barrel to use as our wishing well, and we eventually found a worn old mini-barrel in an antique emporium in Bowral. Vic had to create a custom lid for it and stain it to match the existing timber.
When they’re not holding functions, Centennial Vineyards is a outstanding restaurant, so the food and wine was always going to be sensational – head chef Robin Murray helped us put together an incredible menu of wedding classics that would appeal to everyone – chicken, beef, chocolate mousse and crème brulee – but with very modern, gastronomic twists to make each course something really special.
Our beautiful cake was made by Selina Johnson, a friend of my maid of honour, and decorated by Justine. The cake was an absolute work of art – another of our most appreciated parts of the day. It was three tiers, each a different flavour: the bottom was chocolate mud with chocolate ganash, red velvet with cream cheese in the middle and vanilla with vanilla cream on top.
I know that not every wedding day runs as smoothly and as perfectly as you might like, but thanks to my awesome bridesmaids and our incredible vendors, I truly had the most beautiful, dream-like day. Every time we look back over our stunning photos, Vic and I know that our day just wouldn’t have been what it was without our photographers Studio Something, Justine and team, Bec from Beska and so many others. If I could have my wedding day a thousand times over, I would choose to work with them every single time.
My dress was by Rebecca Childs, owner of local bridal boutique Beska. The ball gown was made from soft blush-pink silk dupion with intricate ruffled flowers on the skirt and an off-shoulder wrap. After the ceremony we removed the wrap to reveal a sweetheart neckline, lined with a tiny bit of feminine lace. I also wore my Mum’s jewellery and three-tiered veil, which was finished with a hairpiece, specially made to incorporate my Great-Grandmother’s brooch.
We travelled from Belmore to our ceremony in beautiful old Jags owned by Vic’s old school mate, Kevin. Our ceremony was held on the old sandstone lookout in the rambling gardens of Hillview Governor’s House, a heritage-listed property that was once the country retreat for the NSW governors.
Vic and I both wanted a formal, traditional wedding, but we wanted to do things in a new way that people might not have seen before. We wanted the ceremony be soft, whimsical and just really beautiful and relaxing for our guests. I had literally bombarded Justine – our florist and stylist – with hundreds of ideas and images from Pinterest, mags and blogs – and she took all of my crazy ideas and translated them perfectly into the most beautiful setting.
We were absolutely blown away by her work – the flower garlands and ribbons in the big tree, the incredible rustic arch erupting with flowers, the ‘his and hers’ loveseat, mismatched chairs and the old dresser for the drink stand. The dresser held our programs, which we had made ourselves, and Vic’s own delicious Vodka-citrus punch. We also had ciders, mini-bubbles and water on ice as it was such a hot day, as well as gorgeous hand-woven picnic blankets we’d bought in South America for guests to relax on – a nod to Vic’s Chilean heritage.
We fell in love with the restaurant at Centennial Vineyards as soon as we walked in – warm and rustic, with big fireplaces, worn timber floors, long wooden tables and a vaulted timber ceiling with thick beams and magnificent chandeliers.
We wanted a Latin 'fiesta' feel for the reception, something loud and full of colour, and a bit bolder than what we had for the ceremony. Justine’s styling and flowers just looked amazing in that setting. The tables were lined with burlap runners and neon confetti, mismatched jars, pops of timber, incredible flowers and the most gorgeous mini pineapples. Most amazing of all though was THAT SIGN! It was the brainchild of myself and Justine – she sat down with me and said, ‘It would be cool to hang something from that beam, like a flower chandelier,’ and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve seen the perfect thing on Pinterest – it’s like a swing, but with flowers and a sign, which could say Kaitlyn & Victor’. Justine took care of the swing and the flowers, and while we had originally wanted to jigsaw out the sign ourselves, we ended up ordering a laser cut version from WoodenYouLoveItAus on Etsy, which we painted ourselves – at 11pm the night before the wedding!
All of the styling went so perfectly with our handmade menus, place cards and favours. Our favours were test tubes filled with ‘Buddha Tears’, balls of Jasmine tea that slowly unfurl in hot water. Vic and I are both tea-drinking nerds at heart, so we felt that our favours were the perfect gift.
Fitting in with the winery location, I really wanted a wine barrel to use as our wishing well, and we eventually found a worn old mini-barrel in an antique emporium in Bowral. Vic had to create a custom lid for it and stain it to match the existing timber.
When they’re not holding functions, Centennial Vineyards is a outstanding restaurant, so the food and wine was always going to be sensational – head chef Robin Murray helped us put together an incredible menu of wedding classics that would appeal to everyone – chicken, beef, chocolate mousse and crème brulee – but with very modern, gastronomic twists to make each course something really special.
Our beautiful cake was made by Selina Johnson, a friend of my maid of honour, and decorated by Justine. The cake was an absolute work of art – another of our most appreciated parts of the day. It was three tiers, each a different flavour: the bottom was chocolate mud with chocolate ganash, red velvet with cream cheese in the middle and vanilla with vanilla cream on top.
I know that not every wedding day runs as smoothly and as perfectly as you might like, but thanks to my awesome bridesmaids and our incredible vendors, I truly had the most beautiful, dream-like day. Every time we look back over our stunning photos, Vic and I know that our day just wouldn’t have been what it was without our photographers Studio Something, Justine and team, Bec from Beska and so many others. If I could have my wedding day a thousand times over, I would choose to work with them every single time.